Silent Prayers & Wishes
by Rini Mazaki
Summary: Midgar has a legend about searching for thirteen orbs of light that will grant anyone holding those lights one wish. A boy named Cloud Strife doesn't believe in the legend, but what will happen if the lights choose him? An AU setting to FFVII. Resubmitted


Hello, everyone! This is my first FFVII fan fiction story, but it isn't my first fan fic. Not many know me because I don't usually share my stories or finish the chapter that I start typing. I had this idea for a few months and I finally had the time to finish typing this chapter. I feel very inspired, so more chapters will be added. I hope you don't mind my spelling and grammar mistakes because english is my second language instead of first. It won't be perfect, but I hope it'll be understandable. So here's the first chapter to my story, but before I begin I'd like to point out a few things. This story is an alternate universe setting and a parody off a show, too. If anyone can guess the show, I will give you a tasty cookie. xD Also, the setting is alternate universe, but I will keep some of the original work like names and limit breaks and other things like that. Also, Emma is the female turk player in BC that is Elena's older sister. I'm using her and the name Emma which makes her both an OC, but a real character too. The player turks in BC don't have names and were never given names except Cissnei.

Thank goes to **chibipinkbunny** for beta reading this chapter for me

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

P.S: I reloaded this story because it had too many mistakes. I hope this story sounds better now.

Chapter One

The beginning of the year had arrived in the small town of Edge, it was quiet with a few cars driving by, stores were slowly opening their doors for the day, and students were getting ready to go to school. All the students at Shinra Senior High School were excited to go to school wondering if the new school year was going to be different than the last. All the students followed the same route to school except for one, and his name was Cloud.

He wore a bored expression on his face while his blue eyes were cast down at the ground, thinking about his life. He had spiky blond hair and was wearing the school uniform of Shinra Senior High School. It was known as one of the hardest schools to get into because the school only accepted talented students of all fields like martial arts, sports, music, academics, military and other fields that the Shinra Power Company will like to employ into their company after graduation. All the students from the school wore recognizable uniforms, a light tan-color jacket with the school's emblem on the right pocket, a white collar shirt with a red tie, and dark blue pants. As the spiky blonde looked about aimlessly, he began to think,

_I hate this town. I wish I could forget about my present memories here. Every day I do the same old routine - I go to the same school I hate, visit the same friends, and go back home to the house that I want to avoid. Will doing the same routines change anything?_

He decided to take the long way to school by taking the steep road. Many students didn't go this route because it was the longer way to go to school, and it took a lot of effort to climb it. Cloud was used to climbing the hill because he used the same road to go to school every day.

He wasn't expecting any company, until he saw a girl standing at the bottom of the hill. He stood beside her wondering why she was there. She had long chocolate-brown hair, tied in a braid with a pink ribbon wrapped around it, and she was wearing the same school uniform with the exception of a dark blue skirt and brown loafer shoes. She was holding a small brown handbag in both hands and her eyes were closed. Her green eyes opened slowly and looked down at the ground.

"Lily!" she cried.

The boy was surprised by her sudden outburst until he continued to listen to her speak. "Nothing stays the same forever. Everyone grows up and moves on with their lives without them realizing it. Just like the flower, everyone grows and changes from a small seed to a mature plant, and the very flower continues to change like we do. It depends on the road that we take if we turn to a beautiful lily or to a simple weed plant."

The boy couldn't help but wonder if everything really does change over time. Perhaps she was reading his mind, or maybe she was talking to herself.

The girl looked ahead, deep in thought, and began to question herself aloud, "Will I still love this school? I've loved this school since the moment I was a freshmen student, but will I continue to love it here? Even though, everything has changed?"

"You will if you make new memories here," he responded with a serious look on his face. The girl was surprised by the boy's words, so she turned towards him with curiosity. The cool spring breeze began to blow softly, cherry blossom petals danced around them before fluttering down to the ground.

"Nothing stays the same, but change isn't a bad thing, either. It depends on the decisions you make if the change is good or not." Moments later he looked at his watch and said to her while walking ahead slowly, "Let's go."

The girl nodded her head and followed the boy with blond hair to school. The boy began to wonder if the wind blowing around them was a sign of changing seasons or something more.

After school, Cloud headed over to the athletic dormitory where students that have a sport's scholarship live because the school is known for recruiting students from other parts of the country Shinra High School was renowned for producing many famous athletes. One of Cloud's friends lived in the dorms, so he came to visit, but he wasn't the least bit surprised to see the show in the middle of the hallway.

A group of football players were huddled menacingly around another boy. He looked quite unlike the other boys, with hair bright as fire tied in a long ponytail, blue eyes, and two red triangles markings on his face. He was only wearing the white t-shirt, but it was unbuttoned halfway. The captain of the football team was glaring down at him and asked in a rough and threatening voice, "What did you say?"

The red-haired boy was intimidated and said, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

The captain grabbed his shirt and said, "Maybe some butt kicking will help jog your memory!" He grabbed the red-haired boy and tossed him to the other football players and soon enough they were throwing him around like a football. The red-haired boy yelled for help.

The blond chuckled to himself and asked, "When are you ever going to learn, Reno?"

The red-head's name was Reno Sinclair**,** and he was a third year student at the high school. He glared at his friend, "Strife! Get your ass off the wall and help me!"

Cloud looked away and said, "Not interested."

The football players continued to toss Reno around until they heard someone yell from a distance, "CUT IT OUT! ALL OF YOU!" A middle age women with blond hair tied in a bun was running towards them, flipping a broom around, which caused the football team to let go of Reno and run out of the dorm building. Putting her broom down, the woman wiped her forehead and said, "Geez. Those guys always create the same ruckus everyday!"

Cloud looked at her and said, "It must be rough to be the dorm manager here."

From the ground, a beat up and exhausted Reno grabbed her by her green dress and complained, "Elmyra, you should have saved me earlier..." Elmyra Gainsborough, the middle age dorm manager, glared at Reno and lightly hit him with the broom.

"Oh no! It was your own fault that you got into trouble. It serves you right!"

Reno slid to the ground and made an irritated groan while Cloud said to Elmyra, "I'll take him back to his room."

Elmyra gave him a smile and nodded her head, "Please do." Cloud nodded his head before grabbing his friend and taking him back to his dorm room.

Lying down at the dorm room floor, Reno gave an exhausted sigh and said, "Damn that football team."

Cloud was eating a bag of chips, which he found in one of Reno's kitchen cabinets, and he asked him, "Why are they irritated with you?"

"The walls in this dorm are thin, so any type of noise bothers them," explained Reno simply while he continued to eat his noodles.

Cloud wondered if it was true and decided to test it by yelling loud and clear, "THE FOOTBALL TEAM SUCKS!" It didn't take long for one of the players to shout back and give the wall a hard kick which made Reno nervous, again.

He grabbed Cloud by his shoulder and yelled at him, "Are you crazy! Are you trying to get me killed!"

"Stop being a coward!" responded Cloud, simply, while he lightly pushed Reno off.

The red-head looked down and muttered, "If it was a fair fight then I wouldn't be worried." Going back to his seat, he gave Cloud a grin and said, "But don't worry. Once the school year ends, I will have my revenge against the football team and you're going to have my back!"

Cloud ate another chip before replying, "Don't count on it. I'll be the first to stab you on the back!"

Reno glared at his friend and yelled out, "Why?"

"I'm in the football team's side."

"Since when!"

"Just now," answered Cloud while taking another bite out of his potato chip. The football player yelled from the other side of the wall a second time, warning the boys to shut up while kicking the wall, again. Cloud walked over to the same wall and positioned himself to kick back**.** "Should I kick them back?" Reno yelled at him not to**,** and Cloud began to laugh because he was expecting that type of reaction. The two friends continued to talk some more before Cloud went back home for the night.

Inside a small house with a large window there was a boy huddled in the corner, a lonesome expression on his face. It was completely dark inside except for a few rays of ephemeral green light that were seen outside. Every day, he stayed in the same place and same position, with the same lonely expression on his face. The voice feels curious about the boy and begins to say, _"The boy interests me, but I don't understand why. He stays in the same spot with the same sad look on his face. I wonder if he's completely alone." _

The next morning, Cloud headed off to class while wondering about the dream he had last night, but before he could open the classroom door he heard his name. Someone was talking about him. He sidled up next to the door so he could hear better. Three of his classmates were talking amongst themselves about him and Reno. He listened harder. One of the students was talking about how they were always late, while another one complained about how they were always slacking off. Then another voice was talking about how they were on the fast track to prison. Cloud became irritated, so he opened the door quickly and headed over to his seat.

"Ummm...excuse me, Cloud. You're late to class again," said a girl with short blond hair and green eyes. Cloud ignored her by resting his chin on his left hand while looking out the window. The blond-haired girl took a deep breath before saying to him, "You should come to class earlier...next time."

Cloud turned his gaze towards her with a smirk on his lips and teased, "Hmmm? For a moment there, you sounded just like a class representative, Emma."

"Sounded like? I am the class representative," she responded, sounding threatened.

One of the students warned, "Strife, stop picking on her before Elena comes running in here."

Emma turned to the student and said, "Don't worry, I can handle this." Cloud gave a sigh because he was certain that Emma was going to continue to bother him until he agreed to come early.

"Fine, I'll come on time tomorrow," responded Cloud, uninterested.

Emma's green eyes flashed brightly at the thought, "Do you want me to read your fortune?" She took a deck of cards out of her pocket and said, "Mr. Reeve Tuesti taught me how to read fortunes over the Christmas break." Cloud stared at Emma shuffling her deck of cards, when suddenly she lost control and they fell to the ground. She didn't notice him until she bent over to pick up the cards, three of which were face side up. Cloud gave an irritated sigh and rose from his seat to help pick up the mess of cards, but Emma said, "Oh! You're going to be late again."

Her comment startled him, and he tripped, falling into the ground. Picking himself up, he glared at her and yelled, "Are you trying to pick a fight with me!"

"No! You got it all wrong! The cards have revealed that you're going to be late tomorrow because a beautiful girl that you are fond with is going to hold you back," explained Emma while she looked down on the floor.

Cloud blinked a few times, confused, and said, "That fortune got right to the point." Emma looked at him and said, "Call it a woman's intuition!"

"CLOUD STRIFE!" yelled another girl while throwing a book towards him. Cloud was able to dodge it, but he felt the book fly right past him and Emma.

"What was that?" asked a confused Cloud until

Emma asked, "Elena?"

"Huh!" asked Cloud.

Soon enough, he was face-to-face with a blond girl in pigtails. She was glaring at him, green eyes alight with fire. She walked up to Cloud, upset, and grabbed his red tie before she asked, "You better not have been picking on my older sister!"

Emma shook her head quickly and said, "Don't worry, Elena. Cloud wasn't picking on me!"

Elena looked at her older sister sternly and said to Cloud, "I guess you're off the hook...this time!" She let him go until her attention turned to the pile of cards on the floor and she asked, "Was Emma reading your fortune?"

"She was. She told me that I'm going to be late tomorrow because of a beautiful girl," responded Cloud while fixing his red tie.

Elena began to chuckle at the fortune and a devious smile appeared on her lips, "Is that so?"

Cloud noticed her smile and asked, "What is it?"

"Oh nothing," responded Elena. She patted his shoulder and said, "Good luck, Romeo~! You're going to need it!" And she walked out of the classroom laughing. Cloud, Emma, and the rest of the class watched Elena leave before class started for the day.

It was lunch time and Cloud was looking for a place to eat, but all of the good spots were taken. Most everyone was eating in the cafeteria, but a few students ate lunch with their friends at various areas around the campus, such as the roof and football bleachers. Cloud usually ate alone unless Reno came to join him, but he hadn't seen any sign of him this morning. "Looks like I'm going to eat alone for a change," muttered Cloud to himself, but then he noticed the girl from the hill eating her lunch under a large tree. She was eating alone, and he decided that he had found the perfect spot to eat. Once he was outside, he stood by the girl and noticed a yellow lily tied on one side of her hair and wondered,

_Isn't that a lily? I wonder if that's the flower she called out a few days ago_?

The girl was eating a turkey sandwich and seemed to be in deep concentration. Cloud asked her, "Why are you eating alone?" The girl continued to eat while Cloud remained silent for a few moments before asking again, "Why are you--"

"Sorry, but I'm busy eating," responded the young girl while she continued to eat her lunch.

Cloud looked down and muttered, "Whatever." The blond-haired boy sat down beside the girl and began to eat his hamburger in silence.

In a few moments, both Cloud and the girl with a pink ribbon were done eating their lunch and got rid of the wrappers, so she sat up straight and asked, "Umm...how may I help you today?"

Cloud glanced at the girl while eating a chocolate bar and asked, "Why are you eating alone?"

The young girl looked down at her lap and asked, "Do you love this school?"

"Not really," responded Cloud while taking another bite out of his chocolate.

"I used to love this school, but it isn't the same anymore. All of my friends and classmates graduated and all of my old teachers left the school too. I don't recognize anyone here," explained the girl sadly.

Cloud realized that her friends graduated from school and asked, "Did you repeat the grade?"

The girl looked at him surprised, a weak smile was on her lips, and said, "Mmm, I failed the year before last because I missed a lot of days at school." The smile turned to a sad frown while her green eyes went back to her lap.

"I don't like being alone very much, but it can't be helped. I've always been alone at school." Realizing that she spoke her mind, she looked at the boy embarrassed and began to giggle, "I'm sorry...I spoke too much."

"Don't be. It's good to get those types feelings out before it consumes you," responded Cloud with a faint smile on his lips. He couldn't help but empathize with her because he felt alone most of the time. Plus, he still remembered what she had said at the hill a few days ago. The girl returned the faint smile with a smile of her own. "Why don't you join a club? You'll be able to meet and make more friends if you're active in events," explained Cloud wondering if she had interest in any clubs. The young girl shook her head softly and said, "Even if I joined any club activities, I won't be able to participate much because I get sick very easily. Last year, I tried to join the botany club, but I got sick during most of the year. I've always had a dream to join that club for a long time, but I couldn't join the last three years. I'm glad that I was given another chance, even if it's only for a year."

"Even if you can't do any of the club activities, you should join something so you get to meet new people," explained Cloud. This grabbed the girl's attention. He noticed that she didn't smile much, but he had already seen her smile once or twice now. "Also, the best way to make friends is by smiling more often because no one wants to be friends with a sad looking girl," explained Cloud with a small smirk.

The girl was surprised by his words, but she appreciated the advice and gave him a smile. "Okay! I'll give it a try," answered the girl happily.

Suddenly, they heard the roar of motocycles, which caught their attention. "What is that sound?"

Cloud thought he recognized the noise, but he wasn't too sure. They needed to investigate, "Sounds like it's coming from the field." He got up from his seat and turned to the girl, "Let's go." The brunette was surprised that he wanted her to tag along, but she nodded her head and followed after him.

At the football field, there was a group of students watching from a distance, two motorcycles was swirling around the field while the passengers of each bike waved their wooden baseball bats around to intimidate the students watching them. Cloud and the brunette girl arrived at the scene realizing that the roar was coming from the motorcycle engines. In the crowd, Reno was sitting on a bench while drinking a bottle of juice called Potion. He was feeling very excited about the situation and said, "Whoa! Watch those guys riding on their bikes!"

After spotting him in the crowd, Cloud walked up to Reno and asked, "What's going on, Sinclair?"

He began to grin and answered, "Are you blind? Can't you see those punks are circling around the field and threatening to hit anyone that tries to stop them. I bet they're a bunch of rejects!"

"Rejects?" asked the brunette girl curiously.

"This school is very popular and a lot of people want to come here, but there's always a group that the school rejects. These are the rejects, so they're angry at the school," explained Cloud calmly until a group of girls began to cheer.

They turned their attention to the field and noticed a girl with long raven-color hair was heading towards the field. She glared at the boys and said out loud, "I suggest you leave this place before someone gets hurt." The motorcycles stopped circling the field and the teenagers on the bikes glared at the girl.

Reno cheered for her and then turned to Cloud and asked, "Is she really going to fight against them?"

Cloud watched silently for a while, fuming, and decided he had to do something. He took off his tan jacket and red tie. _This might get ugly_, he thought to himself. Reno and the brunette girl turned their attention toward him. He explains, "I'm going to help her." He turned to the brunette and asked, "Can you take care of this for me?"

"B-But..." responded the brunette girl.

One of the girls cheering turned to Cloud and said, "There's no need for you to do that!" Cloud, Reno, and the brunette girl looked at the other girl, surprised, until the girl further explained, "That girl is called Tifa Lockhart. She just transferred to the second year and has made it her goal to become this school's guardian."

"She's very strong and can take care of those biker gangsters on her own. If you try to help her, you're just going to get in the way," explained another girl in the group. Cloud was surprised by the girl's words, but he couldn't help realize that the name "Tifa" sounded familiar. Where had he heard that name before?

The girl with the pink ribbon watched the situation with worry and asked, "Should we really let her fight alone?"

Reno turned to the girl and said, "If these two girls say that she can take care of it, and then let her. Simple as that."

Tifa placed both her hands on her hips because she was getting impatient with the small biker gang. She pointed at one of them and repeated herself, "I'm going to give you one more chance to leave this place in peace. I already asked you nicely to leave, but if you make me repeat myself again. Well~" A confident smirk crosses her lips before she said, "Let's just say that your next spot to terrorize will be the hospital. I'm sure you don't want a girl like me to beat you up."

One of the bikers glared at Tifa and revved up his motorcycle before he declared, "ATTACK!"

Tifa didn't move a muscle until one of the bikers came towards her and swung his bat. She ducked just in time to avoid the impending attack and kicked the passenger off the bike, which caused the driver to lose his balance because the passenger pulled the driver down with him. The second motorcycle went straight towards her, but she bent down and used all of her strength to kick the motorcycle as quickly and as hard as she could. The force of her kick caused the driver and passenger to fall to the ground hard. Tifa turned away and walked towards the school and ordered one of the boys to call for an ambulance and a teacher. The boy nodded and ran off while the girls cheered happily for Tifa's victory. Cloud, Reno, and the brunette girl were surprised by the outcome because she was greatly outmatched by her opponents.

"She's amazing! Not even the third year martial art students know how to use their limit breaks," commented the brunette. Reno wasn't too impressed and left without a word while Cloud was busy putting his jacket and tie back on.

"Tifa Lockhart? They said she's a transfer student here," said the brunette girl with amazement.

Cloud noticed that she was surprised, so he explained, "Both of you are in the same situation, but she's already popular." She continued to look down at her lap before nodding her head in agreement, "You're right...umm..?"

"It's Cloud Strife," responded Cloud with a faint smile.

The girl with brown hair gave him a bright smile and introduced herself, "My name is Aeris Faremis. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Strife."

"Just Cloud is fine," responded Cloud, a bit irritated because the name reminded him of his father.

Aeris began to giggle and nodded her head, "Cloud it is~" The school bell began to ring in the distance, which caught their attention. She turned to Cloud and said, "It's time to go back to class."

"What classroom are you in?" asked Cloud curiously.

"I'm in class B-3. And you, hm?" asked Aeris just as curiously.

Cloud couldn't help but look away with a light blush because he didn't want to tell her that he was in class D-3. "It doesn't matter," replied Cloud simply.

A disappointed look appeared on her face, which was quickly replaced with a smile."Well, I'll see you later then." She began to walk ahead before the late bell rung.

Cloud continued to watch her walk away until a familiar voice caught his attention, "Strife! Meet me after school." He turned around and saw Reno grinning at him from behind.

He nodded his head and replied, "Sure."

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
